MeanwhileAn Interlude
by Inspirationbynight
Summary: The Hiatus is over! I am really sorry that this has taken so long. Fic No.6. Those below have their adventures and stories as well. Between a birthday party, Elisa's confession, a missing person, and strained relationships will this end in tragedy?
1. Chapter 1

Meanwhile

By Inspirationbynight

Disclaimer: I don't own Gargoyles. T.T It's such a great series.

A.N.: Oh yeah, the Labyrinth clan is going to be involved too, so what have they been up to? While a lot of exciting things are happening above ground, Talon's clan have their own excitement happenings underground and Elisa visits with news. Fic #6.

Meanwhile

In the Labyrinth:

Carmen Diago clasped Maggie's clawed hands in gratitude a final time for the favor of watching over her children. She would be going to another interview in the hopes of attaining a job from which she could get her life and the lives of her children back on track.

Her eldest child, a boy of 12 hugged his mother without shame, taking comfort in the scent of laundry soap and a hint of perfume from his mother before releasing her. His nine year old sister also said good bye to their mother, wishing her luck as she held onto Maggie's hand. Their mother's short brown hair was swept into a ponytail as she left the Labyrinth. The clicking of her white heeled shoes faded down the tunnels in accompaniment with Hollywood's lumbering steps as they headed towards the upper world.

That had been two days ago. Peter and Diane Maza were visiting their mutant son and his misfit clan that afternoon with groceries. The adults spoke with pleasant expressions, looking calm and casual to the non-observer.

Omar knew different. He knew it was rude to listen in on other people's conversation, but he was worried about his mother. His sister Cynthia was carefree. Their mother had said she might be gone a few days when she was looking for a job, staying with a friend who could not or would not let Carmen's children also stay, but would return soon. This had not been the first time she had been gone for more than two days, telling Omar and Cynthia to listen to their 'Tio Derek' and 'Tita Maggie', but Omar still worried.

"Dad I have a favor to ask" Derek confided quietly.

His father nodded, signaling for his son to continue as he folded the grocery bags into a neat pile.

"Could you get a birthday cake? It's for Omar."

"Sure son, kid turning 13 already?" Peter asked in surprise, glad it was nothing serious. He and Diane tried to get to know the residents of his son's protectorate, especially the long-term residents. Carmen Diago and her two children had been living in the Labyrinth since the week before Christmas after a brutal assault had set fire to the apartment building they had lived in.

"Yeah, Carmen went out job hunting and I don't know if she'll be back in time," Derek explained.

Despite the terrible experience that brought Carmen and her children to the Labyrinth, the woman had looked upon the situation with the eyes of a believer in the silver lining on every cloud. She had even called the mutates a god-send and with a little encouragement from Maggie and Claw, Carmen set out almost every week to look for a job. For the remainder of the holiday she had managed to find odd jobs at various times of the day and night and for a few weeks held out in a small grocery store.

While she would not say what had caused her unemployment, Carmen refused to be beat in front of her children and had set out again to look for work. By the end of the holiday season, Omar and Cynthia had grown to fondly call the mutates Tio or Tia, Uncle or Aunt.

While Omar and Cynthia weren't the only children in the Labyrinth, the rest of the residents somewhat fearfully stayed at arms length from Derek and his clan, despite their warm welcomes and assurances of safety. It was understandable but there were times when Derek wondered how Goliath remained firm in his faith of the day that humans and gargoyles would co-exist, when humans feared them so much.

It was a relief to know that some of the residents and guests, particularly the children, were unafraid and some friendly.

"Has he mentioned what he would like for a present?" Diane asked her son.

Omar quietly left, deciding to approach Derek later than hear his birthday plans.

"Carmen said Omar wants to be a pilot when he grows up," Maggie told her, putting away the remaining canned food.

Derek nodded in agreement. "He hasn't said much about his birthday, but you should see the way his eyes light up when I tell about my time as a pilot. Big as saucers!"

"Then a pilot theme is what we'll do," Diane said with a smile. "And Derek, Elisa called to tell you that she wants you to come see her tonight."

"Is everything ok? Did she say why?" the panther mutate asked in concern.

"She sounded fine, excited actually," Diane said. "I think it's a surprise by the vagueness of the conversation we had. Let us know what it is after you talk with her, won't you?"

"I will if it isn't a surprise for you and dad," Derek promised.

^*^*^

Nightfall:

"Tio Derek," Omar said, with small pat on Derek's arm, "Will you look for my mom on your way to see your sister?"

Derek smiled a closed-mouth smile and promised he would. And he did until he was cutting it close to meeting with his sister. It was her night off but she was putting off sleep to wait for her brother.

Upon arriving at Elisa's apartment, Derek saw Goliath and Lexington waiting in the living room. Once they were all inside, Elisa explained her reason for calling.

"We want you in on it too," Elisa told him.

"A Gargoyle Gathering," Derek mused. "Three representatives from each clan, right?"

"A max of three," Lexington clarified. "Human members will also be welcomed." Goliath told Derek a short version of his and Elisa's encounter with the Ishimura clan and their association with humans, particularly Constable Hiroshi.

"And you're holding it in Xanatos' private retreat?" Derek asked with a small growl behind his words.

"I know it's a hard pill to swallow, but it's the one safe place we can think of that won't attract attention to something like this," Elisa pointed out.

"Even so, I can't leave Maggie, Claw, the Clones, and the Labyrinth alone, or take Maggie or Claw with me. It would leave everyone vulnerable."

"What about the Clones?" Lexington asked with futile hope.

Derek shook his head. "Even though Thailog is dead, they're still like kids. On the good side, they learn fast, but they're not ready to go to something like a gathering. Politics, customs, mannerisms, it's too much for them." He sighed but then his ears perked up. "Unless Maggie and Delilah went..."

He glanced at his sister uneasily.

Elisa had yet to meet her clone and had expressed unease in doing so, understandably.

She shrugged casually. "It's an open invitation." She would not be going to the gathering, and though she and Goliath had finally come to terms with their developing relationship, she couldn't help but feel nervous about Delilah being alone with Goliath. She was a gargoyle for one thing, and Goliath would undoubtedly remind the hybrid of Thailog, her former master.

"I'll have to think about this, but count us in to help in whatever we can," Derek said. "What else have you got for this gathering? You mentioned Japan, do they speak English?"

"They do actually but we still might have trouble understanding," Lexington answered. "If it comes down to it, Megan or Owen could put a spell in the cabin to translate what everyone says into English."

Derek had heard about some of their magical experiences and their new human friend, a teen sorceress, but remained skeptical. "That's still an issue you have to keep in mind," he suggested.

Goliath nodded, "As is the issue of commodity." He shook his head in wonder. "I never would have thought it would be so difficult to unite gargoyles into a single location."

"So who is coming?" Derek asked.

"Well, Kai the leader from the Ishimura clan confirmed he would come along with Yama, his Second, and one of their elders," Elisa told him, giving him the cliff-notes of each guest. "Griff is traveling with Arthur, but Leo said he would come and bring one of the younger gargoyles with him, so that makes five."

Derek sighed, scratching one of his ears. "I'm way out of the game here sis, but I think the next step, since you've got a location picked out, is to see how many and who is coming. Then find food that everyone can live with."

Elisa looked impressed with her brother. "And I thought you weren't listening to mom at holiday dinners."

Derek shrugged with a small pleased smile at himself. "It's how I got through those parties in college. Ok, quick question: How are you guys getting in touch with these clans?"

"Well the London clan has a shop they run with the pretext that they're wearing masks," Lexington explained, "so I just looked up their yellow pages on the Internet and sent a letter via Xanatos express. We got word two nights ago. The Ishimura clan was harder, but Elisa remembered some of the address when she worked with Hiroshi and we sent an email in February. They answered two days later and we've been talking since. They confirmed last week."

"Avalon is the one we're not sure how to reach yet," Elisa said, looking at Goliath.

"And just before we got here, Owen told us that Demona's new secretary sent us a message. They found a clan in Mexico," Lexington informed them.


	2. Chapter 2

Delilah looked at the blonde-haired doll in her talons in confusion. Without thinking through Cynthia's request, Delilah had agreed to play with the young human in her quarters.

"Oh I love this dress!" Cynthia said in a strange voice.

Delilah watched the young human pick up a faded pink and green one-piece from the ground using the dolls hands. Then began to undress and re-dress the doll while speaking with a falsetto voice.

Cynthia looked up at Delilah with mild impatience. "Why aren't you playing with me? Do you want another doll?"

"No," Delilah answered. She looked at the doll in her hand again and the scattered toys around them. "I don't know what to do," she told the small child.

"You're supposed to pretend like you are the doll and we are at the mall," Cynthia explained with the voice of someone who had gone through the same speech more than twice that day.

"Pretend?" Delilah repeated.

Cynthia stood up with a huff and illustrated with her hands. "This," she said, walking around their small space, "is the mall. It has a lot of floors." She waved her hands in different parts of the air. "The dolls are shopping together because they are friends and like clothes."

Delilah was bewildered. There was no mall. She and her clone siblings had been taken to one after doing a good job patrolling for a week with Claw and Talon. There was nothing in the air where the child pointed to and Delilah began to wonder if she could not see what's there. Hesitantly, the female clone stuck her hand out. There really was nothing there.

With an exasperated sigh, Cynthia gathered her dolls and toys.

Though Delilah was unfamiliar with playing pretend, she recognized the signs of subtle anger. "What's wrong?" she asked Cynthia. Delilah stayed sitting.

"I'm going to play soccer," Cynthia replied curtly as she took the blonde doll from Delilah's hand. Once her toys were back in the box she had pulled them out of, Cynthia left the room.

"Is something wrong Delilah?" Maggie asked, seeing the clone alone in the room.

"She is angry with me," Delilah told the mutate as she followed Cynthia from the room to the open 'court yard' with her eyes. Humans in the upper floors were taking down and putting up clothes while Omar, Brentwood, Malibu and another human child kicked a slightly deflated ball to each other.

"Cynthia? Why?" Maggie asked in surprise.

"I don't know," Delilah answered. "She was telling me about a mall and pretending but there's nothing here and she spoke with a strange voice and made the dolls pick up clothes. Then she took everything to her box and went to play soccer."

Maggie offered Delilah her hand. "Well sitting here won't do anything. Let's talk to Cynthia."

Once Maggie called the young girl away from her activity she asked her what had made her stop playing with Delilah.

Sensing she was in trouble, Cynthia pouted and looked at the ground in silence.

"I'm not angry Cynthia. I just want to know why you're angry with Delilah," Maggie told her.

"I'm not angry," Cynthia denied.

"Ok, then what happened?"

Cynthia huffed and stayed quiet for a moment before answering, "She wouldn't play with me. I don't want to play dolls by myself so I went to play with Omar."

Maggie quickly realized it was a situation of culture shock. Delilah, a clone and a gargoyle, had never actually grown up in the normal sense and so did understand the nuances of child fantasies and pretend adventures. Cynthia, still a child and unaware of how Delilah came to be, acted out in anger but not in malice.

Maggie crouched down before Cynthia and spoke softly so as not to be overheard. "Cynthia, Delilah doesn't know how to play pretend. No one taught her how."

Cynthia 's eyes widened in shock. How could anyone not know how to play pretend? Even her mother knew how to play pretend.

"Why not?" Cynthia asked.

Now came the difficult part of explaining cloning but Maggie decided to try another approach. "Well, how do you know how to play pretend? Who taught you? My Aunt Aggie and my mom taught me."

"Mamma taught me," Cynthia said.

Maggie took a deep breath. Delilah watched the exchange in curiosity. "Well Delilah didn't have a mother to teach her so she doesn't know how to play pretend or with dolls like you do."

"What happened to her mommy?" Cynthia asked.

"I don't know and she doesn't either," Maggie explained hurriedly. "But do you see why Delilah wasn't playing with you? It's not that she didn't want to but she doesn't know how to."

"I try to tell her," Cynthia defended herself.

Maggie nodded in agreement as she searched for words but fortunately her moment of silence allowed Cynthia to reconsider her position.

"I can teach her," she offered. "I'm very good at playing dolls and pretend."

Maggie smiled at both girls. Standing up, she asked Delilah, "Would you like to learn?"

"We can have a lot of fun," Cynthia interjected. "But only until Mamma says for me to go to sleep."

That reminded Maggie that Cynthia and Omar should be getting ready for bed.

Delilah nodded. "I want to…learn to play."

"Great," Maggie said in approval. "But it's time for Cynthia to go to bed and for you to go patrolling with Claw."

"Ok, Tita Maggie," Cynthia said brightly. "We'll play tomorrow Delilah. _Buenas noches_!"

Delilah looked after the young human and Maggie walking towards the girl's room before walking off to meet with her fellow clones and Claw in the tunnels. Delilah had realized some time ago—she did not know when exactly—but she had developed reflections. That was she did as she walked down the tunnels: reflect. Thinking back on the evening's events it had started out with curiosity, then confusion, followed by sadness and then happiness.

Same Night: Mexico, Puebla area, 2 hours difference from Manhattan:

"They received my call and are now informed," the tan fay-disguised-as-human told Demona.

Demona caped her wings. "No doubt that once Goliath knows, he'll do everything he can to ally himself with Cuauhtemoc and his clan," she said in satisfaction of knowing one of her many nemeses. She nibbled at the tip of her left talon in thought. "He won't be able to deny me attendance at the gathering."

Lily's black eyes sparkled with fay mischief as she nodded in agreement, "So far so good on that end."

^*^*

Same night, Elisa's apartment:

"So besides getting together, what's your goal with this gathering?" Derek asked, sitting with Lexington across from Goliath and his sister.

"To forge bonds between our clans," Goliath said.

"And increase our population," Lexington inserted. "There aren't many of us out there."

While the Quarrymen were being branded as a peace-disturbing gang, their messages of hate split the public in half. Fortunately, the police, on the mayor's request, were working hard to snuff them out before the current situation of statue-smashing escalated.

Goliath hoped once the Quarrymen were disbanded and put behind bars, the public's fears would ease. It was easier to envision than accomplish though once, gargoyles lived side by side with humans. However, even in those times there was tension.

"One of the issues we want to discuss during the Gathering is using the media to introduce ourselves, but in a better light," Lexington explained. "If the other clans were willing, we could let the whole world know about us."

"That's a huge risk," Derek pointed out, thinking of his own clan as well.

"We know Derek, but at least New York has to know these guys are here to stay," Elisa pointed out. "And we're lucky to have them.

After a little more conversation, Goliath and Lexington returned to the castle, leaving Elisa to spend some time with her brother.

"I wanted to ask, why wasn't Brooklyn here?"

Elisa explained that he was out patrolling with the others and while Goliath went to the Gargoyle Gathering Brooklyn would act in his stead.

"Goliath did start it after all. The other reason was because Goliath wanted to pitch the idea of inter-clan mating, and since Broadway and Angela are pretty much an item, and Brooklyn will be staying behind that leaves Lex free to help Goliath. They said it's not a new concept to them but they used to have a bigger clan."

"Yeah, not too many single gargoyle-gals around here, even if it is New York," Derek joked weakly, looking at his sister.

Elisa caught the look in her brother's eye and asked him what was on his mind.

"You and Goliath… honestly," he replied.

Elisa's breath caught in her throat. She shouldn't have been surprised. Derek always looked out for her despite that fact that she was the eldest. Besides,he was a former police officer with the skills to tell if a suspect was lying or hiding something she had to remind herself.

"Yeah, we're going out," Elisa answered as casually as she could.

Derek nodded mutely. "Just wanted to confirm. I mean it's obvious and I'm not in a position to judge. I'm a guy who likes being a mutate who's in love with a girl that wants to be human again."

Elisa's face softened into one of compassion and realization. If she had spent more time with him, she would have known it was serious. "She's still hoping for a cure?"

Derek nodded again; his face was saddened. "Don't get me wrong, I'd do anything to help her, but...it's just so hard to think that one day she will be cured and leave. We're platonic sis."

Elisa put a comforting hand on her younger brother's furry arm. He was already thinking the cure was a done deal despite that there was no cure. Derek wouldn't tie Maggie down so long as she was bent on being human.

"Has she said anything?" Elisa asked.

Derek shook his head. "Sometimes she talks about stuff from home and how she'd like to take a walk in the sun once she's human. Her face just lights up—she's beautiful, and stronger than she thinks. I know she wants more than holding hands now and then but..." he sighed.

"We've been burned before," Elisa finished for him.

"So what about you and Goliath?" Derek asked after a moment of silence. Now the tables were turning.


	3. Chapter 3

Elisa hesitated but decided to indulge her brother by changing the subject. "Unlike the other guys back in high school and college, Goliath really is different, and not just looks," Elisa told Derek, catching the forming smirk on his muzzle. "He's definitely the guy that can keep his promise when he says he'll protect me."

"You really love him," Derek stated. Whether in surprise or some other emotion or combinations of emotions, Elisa's mind was only on the lavender gargoyle that had captured her heart ages ago.

She nodded with a smile, no longer afraid or ashamed to hide her feelings about Goliath. "I really do."

"Save it for the alter sis, mom still has to make the cake, get your dress, send out invitations--" he side-stepped the punch to his arm and for a few minutes played with his sister like they used to do before he was changed.

After several more minutes, Derek looked at the dark blue sky and announced he had to go.

With a rare display of affection for him in public, Elisa hugged him. "I'll come visit more often."

"Don't forget about mom and dad," the panther mutate replied. "Take care." With that, Derek took off towards the Labyrinth to tell Maggie and Claw of the Gathering.

"Tio Derek," Omar greeted groggily. Maggie shrugged helplessly behind the preteen boy, looking just as tired as he was.

"Omar, what are you doing up so late?" Derek, crouching to be at the boy's height.

"I waited for you," the Hispanic boy said, "Mamma still hasn't come back."

Derek nodded and ruffled Omar's hair in reassurance. "I'll put out an APB with my dad, ok? Let's get you to bed, you still have school tomorrow."

Two nights later:

"Happy birthday Omar," Peter wished the boy as he unwrapped his present.

"Whoa!"

"Cool!"

"Let me see!"

Omar drank in the sight of his toy air force airplane—one of Derek's by the faint marker writing on the wing Diane had managed erase for the most part.

"Thank you Mr. Maza. Thank you Mrs. Maza," Omar said sincerely before moving on to the handmade cards some of the other residents who knew him had made.

When the party began to wind down Maggie lead the birthday boy to the room he and his mother and sister stayed in, guiding him as his eyes were closed.

"Mamma!"

It was a touching scene as Ms. Diago and her son embraced fiercely as if to never separate again. When they finally did stand apart, Carmen Diago was able to explain to Maggie and Talon, who joined them shortly after the reunion, that she had had no luck with her interview but had found another job in the process. However, she had to see the employer the next day and so stayed with a friend.

It turned out that the one who appointed her for the interview had forgotten the boss would be out of the office for the day, so Carmen left her resume and contact numbers with the boss's secretary. After several calls to the office and wandering around the city in search of another job in case the job offer didn't pull through, Carmen was finally able to get an interview and got the job.

During the conversation, Cynthia had woken up from her sleeping place and was delighted to see her mother back and hear that she had a job as a speaking and writing translator. While the children slept on either side of their mother, Carmen talked with Maggie and Talon about her plan to move out. Maggie insisted that she stay for another month while she found an apartment and got comfortable in her new job. Carmen agreed.

Maggie left the family to themselves as she and Talon helped Claw clean up the remains of the party. Claw looked between the two lovebirds every few seconds. Though he was mute, he had little trouble communicating himself with his two friends and signaled that he would make a final round with the clones before heading to bed.

An awkward silence descended upon the two mutates as they finished sealing off the garbage bags and wiping the old plastic table Talon and Burbank had found their first few months moving into the Labyrinth.

Unexpectedly, Maggie wrapped her arms around Talon and rested her forehead tentatively on his back. Words, reproaches, expressions she could not voice buzzed in her head one after the other in a flurry and just as dizzily settled when Talon, whom she called Derek, spoke.

"Maggie…"

"I don't know what to think," she said simply. Her voice betrayed the hurt, fear, vulnerability and insecurity she felt. "You're so cold," she half whispered.

The panther mutate clenched his fists at his sides. He knew what he wanted to say, to ask, to express but with his will power alone he told Maggie exactly what he had said to Elisa.

Pulling her clawed hands painfully away from where they consciously held him, Talon folded his hands over hers and brought them to meet his bended head as if in prayer. Perhaps he was praying.

"I can't and won't make you choose between me and –what you want most," he said in one breath. He could have said 'us' or 'the Labyrinth' and he could have said 'and being human' but he knew it was more than that.

The silence of the few seconds it was taking Maggie to process his words was more than Talon/Derek could take before he walked off in no specific direction. He did not want to hear, could not want to hear, his worst fear made reality. Thus, despite his sharp hearing he did not hear Maggie's soft but sincere and heart-wrenching words:

"I want you."


End file.
